


The Mysterious Mister EFK

by Xander_The_Undead



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Drawing, Drunken Kissing, Drunken dry humping, M/M, drunken grinding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-04-24 20:20:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19180696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xander_The_Undead/pseuds/Xander_The_Undead
Summary: When Richie signed up to be a model for a life drawing class he did not expect to fall in love with a mysterious artist who went by the letters EFK.When Eddie decided to take life drawing for his elective, he did not expect he would become two different people and fall into a world of half-truths and half-lies. (Based off Model!Richie Prompt 1 & 2)





	1. September

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to both [Tinyarmedtrex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyarmedtrex) and [oldguybones](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oldguybones) for looking this over for me! Thank you, you two!

 

 

**Fall Semester - SEPTEMBER**

 

 

When Richie had been younger, one of his mother’s friends told him that he had very striking features. Something about how pronounced his nose was along with his dark hair and blue eyes that just made for a very nice picture.

It was too bad she was the only one.

He wished the kids in his school had thought the same way. Being called a gremlin, Bucky Beaver and frog face for years tended to make a kid not see themselves in a very stellar way. It was how he grew to become the jokester, the musically inclined one, the smart kid with glasses. A wall of other good things since no one found him pleasant to look at.

But he grew, he got his braces off and the large glasses he had to wear were now in fashion as well as being allowed to get contacts. He never thought he was good looking, but he was decent enough that his personality and humor got him the friends and dates he’d always wanted in high school.

Which was why he was so surprised when Bev suggested he be a drawing model for some spare cash.

“Whap?” He asked, mouth full of ramen as he stared at his friend across the restaurant’s table. Richie ignored her grimace at the broth that splattered all over her arm from his mouth and swallowed. “I’m sorry, a what?”

“A model?” She repeated as if it obvious. “I saw flyers up right outside my design classroom. You said the radio station wasn’t going to give you any more hours and your parents can’t help you with buying that new sound system thingy.”

“It’s called an FX Processor.”

He frowned when she waved his correction away.

“Yeah, okay. But you need the money and I think you’d be good at it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “When has sitting still and quiet ever been something I’ve done?”

“You do it when you write music or your scripts.”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, picking up a large hunk of ramen noodles with his chopsticks and shoving it in his mouth. At least this time he swallowed before speaking again, sniffing a little and setting his chopsticks down. “Plus, do you see my face? It doesn’t exactly scream model.”

“Oh my god, Richie.” Bev groaned, pushing her spider rolls away from her so she could reach out and jab him in the shoulder with her own chopsticks. She grinned when he yelped at the pain and tossed her head so her fiery curls swished dramatically. “I’m not about to get into your weird issues with your looks, but you don’t have to be the perfect male specimen in order to be a model for life drawing. It can be literally anyone.”

Richie sighed, shifting back in his seat with a frown. “I don’t know.”

“It pays twenty dollars an hour.”

“.... okay you convinced me.”

He was even more surprised when he got to the classroom fifteen minutes early like the teacher had requested and was then handed a plain white terry cloth robe.

“The bathroom is down the hall, or you can change in my office if you aren’t comfortable walking the hall in a robe.”

Richie stared at Ms. Thatcher for a long moment, mouth open as he waited for her words to register in his brain. When they did, he jumped back a few feet and shook his head a little frantically. “Wait! This is nude modeling?”

Ms. Thatcher didn’t look the slightest bit impressed as she took the robe he had yet to grab from her and set it on the table so she could cross her arms over her chest. For a woman that came to his shoulder she was pretty intimidating dressed in her black capris and long-sleeved shirt, neon pink hair piled on her head in a bun. He’d think she was hot if he didn’t feel like she’d punch him in the nads the second he said something wrong.

“Mr. Tozier...did you even read the flyer I posted?”

“I sort of skimmed it?” He replied, wincing when her unimpressed expression turned into a full-blown frown and he quickly positioned his front away from her just in case. “Can’t they just draw me with my clothes on?”

Ms. Thatcher let out a loud sigh, dropping her arms to her sides and shook her head. “Mr. Tozier, you need to let me know right this instant if I need to find another model because I have about fifteen students about to come in and they need a body to draw. Will you be that body or not?”

Richie bit his bottom lip and turned to look at the door, frowning when he saw some kids hanging around outside waiting for class to start. He could just walk out right now, go find a job as a server or something, but this was quicker and easier.

He just had to be in the buff for it.

“Fine.” He grumbled and grabbed the robe, moving back towards Ms. That here’s office and closing the door. He sighed as he glanced down at the robe, running his hand over the slightly rough fabric before gritting his teeth and undressing. He had just tied the belt around his waist when he heard a knock at the door and he suddenly felt his back start to sweat.

Well, here we go.

He opened the door, Ms. Thatcher on the other side waiting and she motioned him to come forward.

“Everyone, this is Mr. Tozier. He will be one of our models for this semester.” She moved so she could place a hand at the top of Richie’s back and gave him a very gentle push towards where a large low platform sat in the middle of the room. For some reason, her calling him by his last name gave him a bit of courage, like he was some professional who did this all the time. Hell, for all the students knew, he was.

Ms. Thatcher guided him over and onto the platform.

“Now, for our first warmups let’s try with you laying down, I think that would be best.” There was silence and Richie noticed everybody's eyes were on him. He glanced at Ms. Thatcher when she cleared her throat. “You can take your robe off now, Mr. Tozier.”

“Oh, right.” He gulped as his slightly shaking hands moved to his belt.

He could do this.

Before he could think any more about it, he undid the knot in the belt, taking in a deep breath when the front of the robe hung open and exposed him to part of the class. But there was no laughter, not even mean whispering, just a group of kids his age setting up their sketch pads and waiting for him to get a move on. Richie shifted his shoulders a little bit before letting the rest of the robe fall to the ground, surprised that it wasn’t even that cold in the room.

This...was actually not that bad.

“Your glasses.”

“Huh?” He turned to look at Ms. Thatcher, who held out her hand to him.

“Your glasses. Could you take them off? We want to see your face.”

“Oh,” His hands went to his glasses, slipping them off and shaking out his mop of hair before handing them in the direction he remembered her hand was. “Sure, here.”

“Perfect.” He heard Ms. Thatcher say before he heard her heels click away. He glanced around only able to see colored blobs and lights because without his glasses or contacts he was completely blind. He heard Ms. Thatcher’s heels make their way back over to him and get the slightest touch on his shoulder, causing him to jump a little but he settled easily once he realized what she was doing.

Richie listened to her instructions, laying down how she told him, on his back with his right leg out straight and his left knee pulled up enough to rest his foot flat on the ground. She moved him so that one of his arms lay behind his head and asked him to relax.

The platform was a little cold, but it warmed up quickly with his body heat and he could hear her start to instruct her students. He took a deep breath in and then let it out as he heard the softest scratching of charcoal against paper and he knew that class had started.

It honestly wasn’t all that bad.

Richie could barely see so it wasn’t like he had to keep looking at people who were looking at him while he was naked, and this position was actually kind of relaxing. In the two hours he laid there he was able to get a lot done. He was able to figure out how exactly he wanted to tell that one joke for his comedy skit as well as come up with the first notes of music for his contemporary arranging and composition class.

All in all, it was a productive two hours.

He was surprised when the clacking of Ms. Thatcher’s shoes sounded close to him and he turned his head to see a white blur being handed to him.

“Thank you, Mr. Tozier. We are done for today.”

“Oh. Okay, cool.” He sat up and reached for the white thing, which was the robe, and smiled when he felt her place his glasses in his hand.

He quickly slipped his glasses on first, the world coming back into perfect focus as he watched some of the kids pack up. Richie stood up, putting the robe back on and tying it before he made his way back to the teacher’s office to get dressed. He didn’t even try to look at any of the students works, knowing that anything he saw would just make him feel weirder about this.

He quickly changed back into his clothes, jumping a little bit when Ms. Thatcher was right outside the door waiting. She handed him a small wad of tens and fives, then gave him the smallest smile.

“You did well, Mr. Tozier. No one could tell this was your first time.”

“Yeah?”

Richie heard her chuckle as she moved past him to get into her office, reaching out to pat him gently on the shoulder as she went. “I hope I’ll see you again in two weeks?”

He glanced down at the small chuck of cash before smiling and nodding.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be here. Naked and unafraid.”

“Don’t say that too loudly, Mr. Tozier.” She hummed as she sat at her desk and logged onto her computer. “You might not be my student, but you’re still a student here. Don’t go getting me in trouble.”

“Sure thing, Ms. T.”

It was about a week later; he was smoking in the out behind the literature building when he was suddenly tackled by Bev.

“Ah!” He gasped as he stumbled and tried to balance her added weight. “Lit cigarette here!”

Richie heard her laugh, sliding off him and reaching into his jacket pocket so she could steal one for herself. He helped her light up and watched her take a deep drag before letting it out and grinning at him.

“I just saw your naked ass.”

“Huh?” Richie raised an eyebrow and turned to look over his shoulder, trying to look at his own butt. He shrugged when he couldn’t and turned back to Bev. “Oh, you mean from when I left your sweet roommate’s bed this morning? Sorry, I tried to be quiet.”

Bev let out a loud laugh and Richie grinned when she shook her head. “You are nowhere near Audra’s level, okay?”

“Ow.”

“Sorry, bud.” Bev grinned, taking another drag. “Girl is pretty damn hot and talented so you gotta do more than just be a music prodigy.”

He swiped his foot at her, Bev moving out of the way easily before he shook his head. “Okay, so what are you actually talking about?”

“Your bare ass is all over the classic arts wing.” She rolled her eyes and sighed when he still didn’t understand. “The kids you modeled for last week. Their art is hanging up in the classic arts wing, you slow ass moron.”

The hand holding his cigarette dropped to his side limply. “Oh my god.”

Bev laughed. “Yeah.”

She continued to laugh as Richie quickly stubbed out his cigarette, then gasped when Richie grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her along as he ran.

“Lit cigarette, Richie!”

“Now you know how it feels! Come on!”

He pulled her along the entire way across campus until they were bursting through the doors of the ceramics building and speed walking towards the classical arts area. Richie had no idea what he was expecting to see, but his heart pounded in his ears in embarrassment along with a weird jolt of excitement. Bev directed him to the exact place where she had seen the drawings and of fucking course they would be up in the main lobby of the building, where the natural light could catch on every single piece of paper that had his body on it.

“Oh, my fucking god.”

“Amazing, right?” Bev chirped happily as they both stared up at the tall and wide board while about fifteen other Richie’s looked back down at them.

This was so weird.

Richie moved closer and took a look at the ones closest to him, smiling a little when he saw how some of them had drawn his nose. Others had decided to draw his body with odd angles, making his limbs look almost longer and freakishly disproportionate to his head, while the others didn’t seem to get how to draw his curls. It was weird seeing what others saw when they looked at him.

“Oh, wow.” He heard Bev whisper and moved over to where she stood so he could see what she was looking at. The minute he saw it he felt his breath catch in his throat.

There in front of them were about three pages of some of the most beautiful sketches Richie had ever seen.

Richie’s eyes moved from each one, trying to take in all the details of them.

Two pages were of different models, but one page was filled with Richie and he felt a weird hot twinge in his gut when he looked at them. The way the artist had drawn him was actually really flattering.

In the one where his head was turned toward the artist, his mouth was open just slightly and his bottom lip looked full and lush. His eyes were dark because it was only charcoal, but they looked so wide, open and vulnerable that he had to take a deep breath in because he was feeling something...weird.

He had never felt like this.

Not when his past girlfriends and boyfriends had told him he was or when people at bars had tried to hit on him.

Richie had never felt this attractive before.

He reached out to touch the delicate way this person had drawn his collarbone, how his dark curls spilled over in such detail and he jumped when Bev cleared her throat.

“Should I leave you alone to fondle the art in peace?”

Richie turned to glare at her, but found he lacked the feeling, quickly turning back to look at the sketches and his eyes fell on three little letters scrawled in the corner.

 

 

 

__

 

_EFK_

 

 

“Whoever drew these...they’re good.” He whispered softly and he heard Bev hum softly in agreement. He glanced over when he felt her nudge him, a happy smile on her lips as she looked back at the sketches.  
  
“See, I told you. You’re not ugly.” She tapped the one sketch where his body looked long and lean, but not in a horrifyingly skinny way, just svelte and nice with his chin was tilted up softly. “This person gets it.”

He turned back to the papers on the board, staring wide eyed at them until a happy smile started to grow slowly onto his face. He gave a small chuckle, nodding at her words as he reached out to run the tip of his pointer finger along the three little letters in the corner.

“I’m not ugly.”

Every two weeks after that he started to look forward to the classes having their art displayed and would look for that scrawl of EFK signed in the corner of his pictures. Richie felt his heartbeat pick up when he saw the artist’s other pictures of other models, still amazing but there was something the way that EFK drew Richie particularly that was just…love.

He would lay awake at night wondering who this EFK was, what their favorite food was, if they liked comedy or what their favorite type of music was. He liked to think that if he wrote some music for them, they would like to listen to it like he liked to look at their art and he would fall asleep to those thoughts almost every night.

He needed to know who this person was, know who saw him like this. Who could look at him, Richie Tozier, and find something that beautiful in him. So, one day after the class he slipped on his robe and quickly found his glasses when Ms. Thatcher said that time was up, disappointed when most of the artists had already started putting away their work.

Fuck! He started to panic, not knowing how he was supposed to find EFK when he couldn’t see any of the students work. He glanced over to one of the few students who were taking their time, a cute small guy with dark brown hair and a body that was quite frankly amazing.

He quickly hurried over to the guy, making sure not to flash the kid too much as he jogged over. He knocked on the easel next to the guy gently so as not to startle him and when the other looked up, Richie felt a little breathless at how big and brown they were.

“Yes?”

“Hey,” Richie tried smoothly, though it was a little difficult when he was in nothing but a short robe. He tried for a winning smile anyway, though the guy didn’t look too impressed with that either. “Sorry, I don’t mean to bug you, but I was wondering. You wouldn’t happen to know a kid in this class? Great artist? Goes by EFK?”

The guy seemed to hesitate before his eyes moved towards the door and Richie felt his heart start to sink at the thought of his mystery artist getting away for another two weeks.

Then the boy hummed softly and nodded. “Yeah, I know them. Why?”

Richie took a deep breath and beamed. “Because I think I’m in love with them.”

 

* * *

 

Eddie loved college.

It was everything that he had always dreamed it would be and more, the best part being he was at least a couple states away from his mother now.

It had been absolute hell in the house when he had told her three main things senior year; that he wasn’t going to study to become a doctor, he was super flaming gay and that he would be going to school in New York. She had put on the water works like he’d never seen before, but he had stood firm, refusing to back down with the help of his best friend Bill keeping him encouraged. After she had found that tears wouldn’t help her anymore, she went silent and for about three months Eddie basically survived on his own because she refused to acknowledge him.

Thank God for Bill inviting him over for family dinners most nights, even when the Denbrough’s seemed to have their own issues.

It was when he was packing up his stuff to make the drive to New York with Bill that his mom stepped inside his room to talk. He was surprised actually by how quiet and calm she was, considering how hysterical she had been before, and he sat on his bed as he listened to her. She made it clear she did not accept his choices, none of them, but if it meant losing him forever, she would learn to ignore it.

He honestly thought that was as good as it could get with Sonia Kaspbrak.

It was a stilted goodbye, with a dry chapped kiss pressed to his cheek and then he was out the door.

The moment he saw the ‘You Are Now Leaving Derry’ sign, Eddie felt as if the four-thousand-pound weight that had always laid on his chest was lifted.

The only problem Eddie saw with going against his mother’s plan was that at least she had a plan. Eddie had absolutely no idea what he wanted to or even what degree he wanted, but Bill had told him that was fine. He could just get his generals done and decide later.

So, that was what Eddie did and he had a lot of fun exploring the different classes, seeing what he might like to major in.

When his school adviser had told him he needed to take three art classes in order to complete his general eds, Eddie had been excited. He had never thought of pursuing it, but he had also loved doodling and sketching in his notebooks in high school with Bill.

“I think you’ll like life drawing.” Bill said as they moved through the aisles at BLICK, Bill grabbing all the stuff he would need for his painting class while Eddie grabbed his drawing stuff. “I only had a few live models in high school, but the challenge was fun.”

Eddie pursed his lips as he looked down at the box of high-grade charcoal sticks in his hand. “What if I’m no good? I’m not like you, Bill. You won like awards for your art and writing, mine are just dumb sketches.”

“Eddie, shut up.” Eddie scowled at his friend’s back, watching as Bill tried to pick the right paint thinner. “Y-you are actually good at drawing. I saw that picture you drew of Tom Carpenter. It was honestly amazing.”

Eddie felt his entire body go hot with embarrassment. “Y-you saw that?”

“Yeah, I saw it.” Bill turned to look at him, his bright blue eyes sparkling with humor. “Did you think I wouldn’t when we shared notes in biology?”

Eddie huffed and turned to look at the array of oil paints hung up on the shelf by color as he tried to will the red in his face away. When he felt he had himself more under control he went back to following Bill around the store, blinking when Bill pointed down to an impressive assortment of sketch pads.

“What?”

“You n-need a sketch pad, dummy.” Bill said with a snort. “What did you think you were going to draw on? Notebook paper?”

Bill laughed when Eddie reached out to shove his shoulder. “And get a big one, a pain in the ass to carry but you have so much more room to work.”

Eddie sighed, but did as he was told, reaching down to pick up the biggest sketch pad they had. He propped it up against his leg and laughed when it almost came to his upper thigh. “Jesus, I’m short.”

“Yeah.” Bill agreed easily and ran away with another laugh as Eddie chased after him waving his sketch pad.

His first day of class he was nervous, Ms. Thatcher was very intimidating, but she knew what she was doing as she helped each of them through their first couple of classes. Drawing was honestly so freeing and when Ms. Thatcher announced they would be moving on from drawing objects to people, Eddie couldn’t wait.

That is until their first model of the semester walked into the room.

Eddie felt his breath hitch when he saw the guy, features not conventionally attractive but strong and eye catching. He was tall and lean, his skin pale with beauty marks, moles and freckles spattered all over his body. The man’s hair was a wild bird’s nest of inky dark curls that complimented his paleness and under those large thick glasses were startling deep blue eyes.

Ms. Thatcher introduced him as Mr. Tozier.

Eddie had to stomp down the urge to turn away and blush when the man started to take off his robe, seeing other naked men in the school locker room or in porn was completely different to this. Ms. Thatcher positioned Mr. Tozier and Eddie shifted a little uncomfortably when the position made the guy’s body seem even longer and more beautiful.

It took Eddie a moment to start drawing, letting his eyes roam over the figure on the platform before clearing his throat and getting to work. Once he actually started to sketch, his mind sort of drifted into a space where he wasn’t so uncomfortable looking at the naked man. He let his hands do what they wanted and worked, only stopped when Ms. Thatcher instructed Mr. Tozier to change his position slightly.

He gulped when one of the position changes had Mr. Tozier turn his head towards Eddie, his mouth opening slightly and his wide blue eyes staring at something behind Eddie. He was sure that this was the most artfully beautiful man he’d ever seen, right down to his bony sharp feet.

God, Eddie had never felt so compelled to touch someone.

When the class was done, Eddie quickly packed up his supplies and booked it from the room, not stopping his quick stride until he was in his dorm again. Bill has asked him if he was okay, but he had ignored his friend and rushed to the showers, standing under the warm stream of water as he tried to sort out what exactly he was feeling.

His poor heart at least got a two-week break, the class cycling through about three other models before coming back to Mr. Tozier.

Each time they got this man for a model Eddie could feel his body start to hum in excitement and he would shift in his chair as he tried to get everything he wanted out onto the paper.

He knew this was just a silly crush, nothing would ever really happen outside his fantasies, but he loved to imagine even talking to the guy.

So, he was shocked when after the end of one class, Mr. Tozier made his way over to him and asked if he knew who EFK was.

Then promptly told him that he was in love with them.

That he was in love with Eddie.

_What?_

Eddie shifted away from him and scoffed a little, ignoring how his heart pounded so much he felt breathless. “You’re in love with him? You don’t even know him.”

Mr. Tozier’s blue eyes widened and looked so big behind his glasses that it was almost comical as he grinned. “So, it’s a him?! Okay awesome. Can you tell me what he looks like? Or like his full name?”

Eddie frowned a little, he had a crush, sure, but who professes love for someone they had never even seen or talked to before?

Weirdos, that’s who.

Really beautiful weirdos.

Really beautiful weirdos who said he loved Eddie.

Oh, fuck.

“Yeah, I know him and his name. But it’s going to cost you.” Eddie said, surprising himself at his boldness. He slowly went back to packing up his supplies, not able to look Mr. Tozier in the eyes for fear he would just spill everything right there.

”Cost me?” He heard the other shift and he glanced up to see that guy’s face light up. “Yeah, sure. Anything!”

_Oh god. Seriously?_

Eddie gulped softly and tried to act cool even though he felt like every demon in hell was screaming in his head at him. “Buy me a coffee, then I’ll see what I want to tell you.”

Mr. Tozier watched him for a moment and Eddie worried for a second that he had pushed things too much with requesting he be rewarded for his information. Then the man laughed like this was funny to him and Eddie frowned when the guy extended his hand to him. “Deal. I’m Richie by the way and you are?”

Eddie watched his hand for a moment before reaching out and shaking Richie’s hand. He didn’t even think about it before the next words slipped out from his mouth.

“My name is Frank.”

Richie wasted absolutely no time, asking Eddie if he had any classes anytime soon and when Eddie had answered no, he had grabbed Eddie’s hand to drag him to the nearest coffee shop.

In a matter of twenty minutes after drawing class had ended, Eddie found himself plopped down at a small table in the campus coffee shop. Richie quickly ordered their drinks and in no time the other was placing Eddie’s drink in front of him as he took a seat across from Eddie.

“Alright. I bought you your coffee. Now tell me about my dream man.” Richie requested rudely and Eddie pulled an unimpressed face before blowing on his mocha softly and taking a testing sip.

What did he do here? He’d already told Richie that his name was Frank, his dad’s name, so if he came clean now surely Richie would think he was weird, but could anyone blame Eddie? Normally people don’t give out their information to guys who say they are in love with the way you draw them…

Vain much?

Eddie sighed as Richie looked at him excitedly because damn it the guy was cute and it’s not like Eddie had many callers. He had two choices here. He could keep lying or do the right thing and tell the truth.

“Fine. For starters, if you want, I can get you his number.”

“You have his number?” Richie cried loudly, Eddie shushing him before glancing around and frowning at the stares they got. Richie didn’t seem perturbed at all by this, placing his elbows on the table so he could lean forward. “How do you have his number? Is he your friend? Can you tell me what he likes? What does he dislikes?”

Eddie quickly shook his head, the barrage of rapid-fire questions making his head hurt as he held up his hand to make the other stop talking. He had to think of an excuse as to why he knew his own damn number without giving the impression he was close to...himself.

“I’m not friends with him,” He started quietly, then an idea struck. “It’s on the class list.”

Eddie gulped when Richie frowned and sat back, looking a little confused. “Class list? Does every class have one? I’ve never gotten a class list with my classmates’ numbers on them.”

Eddie feigned disinterest at that and shrugged. “Maybe only Ms. Thatcher does it. She seems unconventional.”

He watched as Richie pursed his lips for a moment in thought before shrugging and seeming to buy it. “Alright, so can I have it?”

“No,” Eddie offered dead-panned, sarcasm heavy in his tone. “That’s why I brought it up. Because I’m  _not_ giving it to you.”

“Wow,” Richie chuckled, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “You’re a feisty little bastard, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me? Do you actually want his number or not?” Eddie scowled when Richie quickly stopped laughing and leaned forward into his space again.

“No, no! I do. Sorry, didn’t know you’d be so sensitive.” Eddie must have looked like he was about to get up and leave because Richie quickly tried to remedy that as well. “I mean, I meant the bastard thing in a good way? It’s a compliment?”

Eddie could only stare at him in disbelief. “You think being called a bastard is a compliment?”

“I mean,” Richie sat back in his chair and scratched at his arm, nervous smile on his full lips. “Yeah? Like, think of it like this. If I wasn’t so interested in this EFK guy, I’d totally be into you, you’re a hot piece. I like people who know how to dish it back piping hot.”

Eddie didn’t know if he was excited that Richie found that part of him attractive or a little nauseous that he now had himself trapped in this dumb lie. Instead of dwelling on it, he gave a half-hearted snort and shook his head.

“Well, thank god for EFK then.” He muttered, turning his mug clockwise towards him and then counterclockwise before looking up at Richie. “You want the number or what?”

“Oh!”

Richie scrambled to pull his phone out, knocking the table roughly with his knees and causing their drinks to slosh a little on the table. Eddie frowned, getting a napkin to clean up his drink as Richie held up his phone ready for the number. Unlike the other, Eddie took his time in taking his phone out of his bag, acting like he was clicking through things to find the number when really all he did was open his Instagram for a minute.

“Okay, EFK. Number is 756-845-9821.”

“Awesome!” Richie grinned, Eddie hating that he found that smile so charming, and quickly saved it. Richie was just staring at his phone with a dopey grin for a while so Eddie cleared his throat and reached down to pick up his bag, surprised when Richie reached out to grab his arm. “Where you are going?”

Eddie glanced at the door and then back at the other. “Umm...back to my dorm? You have his number.”

Richie frowned but let go of Eddie’s arm as he sat back in his chair.

“Well, yeah. I guess that’s true, but you don’t have to just leave. I mean, you didn’t even finish your coffee.” Eddie licked his lips and shook his head, trying to stamp down the light feeling in his chest when Richie seemed disappointed.

“I got to get my stuff for my next class, so I really can’t sit around and chat anymore right now. Sorry.” He tried to offer an apologetic smile and it must have worked because Richie perked up a little.

“Yeah okay. Well, give me your number.”

Eddie froze. “W-What? Why?”

Richie shrugged; hands ready on his phone. “I don’t know, just in case. Why? You don’t want me to text you or something?”

_No!_ Eddie screamed in his head.  _I can’t give you Frank’s number because I just gave it to you as EFK’s number!_

“Hello? Frank?”

Eddie snapped back into the moment when Richie waved a hand in front of his face and Eddie gulped as he felt himself start to overheat from panic.

“My...my number...yeah.” Eddie whispered as he nodded slowly, his fingers and hands starting to feel a little numb. “My number is 756….926-0201.”

It had rolled off his tongue easier than he thought and he watched Richie type it in, the sudden need to get out of there and make a phone call causing Eddie’s foot to start tapping quickly. Richie smiled at him, turning his phone so Eddie could see that Richie had put the name Frank in with a fish emoji next to it.

“A fish?” He questioned softly.

“Well, yeah.” Richie replied with a laugh. “Frank the fish! Or should I put you as Franklin the fish?”

Eddie shook his head slowly, feeling weird now that he was using his dead father’s name even if it was his own middle name. He should have picked a different name. “No, Frank is fine. I-I have to really get going now.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” Richie placed his phone on the table and gave Eddie a small wave. “I’ll see you in two weeks then. Wish me luck though!”

“Yeah, good luck.” He said a little hoarsely, shouldering his bag and sketchbook before pretty much running out of the coffee shop.

Eddie didn’t stop running until he was at least three blocks away from the coffee shop, gasping for breath as he pulled his bag off his shoulder and started to dig around in it frantically. When he finally found his phone, he unlocked it with shaky fingers and scrolled till he found the person in his contacts list with the number he’d just given to Richie.

He pressed the phone to his ear praying that they would pick up and groaned when he got nothing but their voicemail.

“Bill!” He gasped into his phone. “Do not answer any strange texts or calls you might get until I talk to you! Please!”

He hung up and pressed the screen of his phone against his forehead roughly, pressing until he worried he might crack it. He sighed when it did nothing to help this terrible feeling of anxiety and moved to sit down on the curb.

What the fuck had he gotten himself into?

Eddie made it back to his dorm in record time, throwing his book bag onto his top bunk and moving to start pacing the small room, pulling at his hair until it stood on end. He tried his best not to go into a full-blown panic attack, the small inhaler hidden in the back of his closet taunting him with his mother’s voice until he heard the lock click and knew Bill was back.

Explaining why he had given his best friend’s number out had actually been easier than trying to explain how exactly he had gotten himself into this situation. Bill sat on his lower bunk, head in hands while Eddie continued to pace in circles and didn’t stop till he heard Bill clear his throat.

“Okay, so can you tell me what exactly the end goal was here?” Bill asked, expression desperate looking as he tried to understand why Eddie had done this. “B-Because I’m trying to find one and I can’t.”

“I don’t know!” Eddie cried, throwing his hands up into the air in frustration at himself. He felt his eyes sting, but he refused to cry because of this. “I panicked! I thought maybe get to know him as EFK and then confess or something? It’s not like it’s everyday a gorgeous guy says he’s in love with little wheezy Eddie Kaspbrak.”

He saw Bill wince. “Yeah, but Eddie, this guy isn’t in love with you. He’s in love with...your art?”

“I know.” Eddie groaned, slumping into his desk chair and leaning back in it to the point when it almost tipped. “And what kind of freak falls in love with someone because of their art? Even more, art of that them? Like, is he sure he’s not just in love with himself?”

He knew he was rambling, thoughts running through his brain faster than his heart beat and he knew if he didn’t calm down, he would be going right back to that kid that needed his inhaler for everything. He took a few calming breaths, thankful when Bill throw him an old crumbled up Burger Dude bag and pressed it to his mouth to start breathing.

After filling and deflating the bag fully with his breath ten times exactly, Eddie felt his body start to ease up. His mind was a little clearer, no more racing thoughts, as he folded up the bag and placed it inside one of the drawers of his desk.

“So, what are you going to do?”

Eddie gave a halfhearted shrug, now feeling a little numb to the situation instead of the full-blown anxiety inducing panic and he turned to look at his best friend.

“Honestly? I really don’t know.” He answered truthfully and sat up a little straighter. “But, if I’m going to be honest, he probably won’t text me or you. He seems like the kind of guy who could get basically anyone he wanted so I doubt he’ll run after some faceless artist for real.”

“He’s that hot?” Bill questioned, eyebrow raised. “Because not to be insulting, but your tastes in people have always been a little skewed.”

Eddie glared over at Bill, the other raising his hands in defense.

“I’m just saying.”

“It’s not that he’s hot.” Eddie defended, trying to think on how best to describe Richie Tozier without waxing poetically about his sharp hip bones and breathtaking lopsided smile with full lips. “He just has this thing to him, that when you catch him standing still, it’s something just so...wow.”

He scowled when he heard Bill snort, picking up a pad of sticky notes from his desk and threw it at his friend, happy when it caught Bill on the shoulder.

“Ow!” Bill cried, rubbing his shoulder with a frown. “That was uncalled for.”

“Being a dick always calls for projectiles.”

Bill rolled his eyes, but quickly became serious again. “So, that’s our plan? Bank on nothing happening?”

Eddie gave a curt nod even though the thought of never talking to Richie again made his chest ache slightly. “Right. Bank on nothing happening.”

It was right at that moment Eddie’s phone chimed at them happily from his bag. Both boys stared at each other, Bill opening his mouth on a question and Eddie quickly shook his head. It had to be his mother, she normally tried to text him at least seven times a day, maybe today she was going for eight.

They heard it chime again.

And again.

And again.

They sat in silence after the fourth ring until Bill tilted his head toward the bag and Eddie slowly moved to pick it up from the floor. He closed his eyes tight and prayed as he opened his bag and dug around for his phone, pulling it out and unlocking it quickly.

When he looked at his messages, he felt all the blood drain from his face and knew he was going to need that fast food bag again soon.

“Shit.”

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

Richie drummed his fingers quickly against the neck of his guitar, trying his best not to think about his phone and how it had yet to buzz with a message from EFK. It had been over a week since he’d sent those messages and he was making himself sick with nerves the more he kept going over every single word he’d sent.

Fuck. What if the guy thought Richie was some fucking stalker?

He hissed when he felt a sharp sting of pain on his arm and turned to glare at Stan harshly.

“What the fuck, dude?”

Stan didn’t look at all impressed as he sat back from pinching Richie with his keyboard in his lap. “Can we please get back to doing our homework or should I just leave because you have literally done nothing but watch you phone for like fifteen minutes.”

Richie stuck his tongue out and sighed, letting his guitar slip from his lap and setting it gently on the floor as he moved to lay down on his bed.

“Sorry. I guess I’m just not in the composing mood right now?”

He heard Stan sigh again and get up to go put his keyboard back on its stand on the other side of their dorm room. Richie felt sick to his stomach and he was surprised when he felt his bed dip next to him and glanced up at Stan, his curls looking golden in the light of their room.

“What’s going on, Richie?” Stan asked with a frown. “Cause if this messes up my GPA because my partner can’t help me write something, I’ll murder you.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“So,” Stan continued as if Richie hadn’t said anything. “Let’s try and fix it so I don’t have to commit homicide.”

Richie was quiet for a few seconds, playing with a loose thread on the cuff of his sweatshirt as he tried to think about the least pathetic way to talk about this. Unfortunately, when it came to this situation, there was no possible way for him to not come off sounding dumb and he sighed as he rolled on his side towards his friend.

“I texted that guy.”

“The artist guy?” Stan asked, tilting his head slightly in a way that made Richie want to reach up and pat his head, but he knew he’d lose a finger if he tried. “The one who was able to make you see yourself in a whole new light?”

Richie grinned because he was embarrassed that he had said that. “Yeah, that guy.”

“Okay, so?”

Richie sighed. “I texted him, but he hasn’t texted back.”

“Maybe he’s busy.” Stan suggested, giving a small shrug. “I mean, we know he goes to school. He’s probably got classes and homework to do.”

“Or he thinks I’m a weirdo and now wants to avoid me like the plague.” Richie added with a dejected mutter.

“Yeah or that.”

“Hey!” Richie cried, sitting up and grabbing his pillow so he could whack Stan in the face with it. He hated that Stan blocked it easily with a small smirk. “You’re supposed to be helping me feel better here.”

“Oh, I am?”

“Staniel!”

“Okay, calm down.” Stan groaned with a roll of his eyes. “I’m sure the guy is just busy, but if he isn’t then it’s not the end of the world. So, some random guy doesn’t want to talk to you, so what?”

“He’s not random.” Richie whispered, doing his best not to sound like he was pouting but it was hard. “He’s amazing.”

“You know nothing about him.”

“You don’t get it!” Richie wailed dramatically and fell over easily when Stan pushed at his shoulder. He hit the mattress with a soft huff and pulled his pillow back to him so he could hug it to his chest. He knew Stan was right, he didn’t know anything about the guy aside from that fact that he drew Richie in a way that just was….

Guh.

“I know you’re right.” Richie whispered and he narrowed his eyes when he saw Stan perk up at that confession. “It’s just hard not to focus on it.”

“Then let's do something to put your focus somewhere else.” Stan stood up from the bed and offered his hand to Richie, who took it and let himself be pulled up onto his feet. “We can see if Bev is free and head to that old arcade you like so much.”

Richie raised an eyebrow. “You hate that place.”

He felt a warm rush of affection for his friend when Stan rolled his eyes and moved to go get one of his jackets. “Yeah, I do. But if it will get you out of this funk at least for a little bit then I’ll brave it.”

“Awww, Stanny. You love m-“

“Oh, and you have to leave your phone here.”

“WHAT!?”

After twenty minutes of arguing and then fifteen minutes after texting Bev, the boys left their dorm to go meet up with their friend. It made him feel a little nervous, leaving his phone behind, but two hours in with his closest friends at one of his favorite places, EFK was the furthest thing from Richie’s mind.

Back in the dorm, Richie’s phone lit up and gave a soft buzz.

 

 

__

 

 

 

 


	2. October

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to [Tinyarmedtrex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyarmedtrex) for betaing!
> 
> Warning: Drunken kissing and grinding near the ending.

 

 

 

 

__

__

 

 

Richie couldn’t control the large grin that spread across his face. He rolled over onto his back and held the phone up above him as he started typing out his reply. 

It had been a whole month since he had sent out that first text and had gotten a reply back, now he texted with EFK almost everyday of the week. The guy was a hard one to figure out, he was sarcastic and funny but could also get a real temper when Richie said something he didn’t like.

EFK could also be extremely awkward and Richie loved it.

He learned that EFK had come from Maine, that he was undecided on his major, he liked the way sunscreen smelled, his favorite animal were cats but he liked dogs too and that drawing made him feel free.

Unfortunately, even though they sometimes talked late into the night and the guy was always quick to answer his texts, EFK refused to meet him. He swore that it had nothing to do with Richie, that it was all because he was very shy in real life and did not really want to push himself outside his comfort zone.

Richie huffed a quiet as he sent his text, before setting his phone down to look over at his friends who looked unamused. 

“What?”

“Can you get your head out of your phone for five seconds long enough to help us figure out where we should eat tonight?” Bev clicked her tongue, her tone saying she was annoyed, but Richie knew her better than that and he let out a loud sigh.

“Fine, Fine. What are we thinking.”

Being poor broke college students, even though Richie technically only qualified for half that, they only went out to eat on Fridays or when there was something to celebrate. Tonight was Bev’s night because she had snagged the second top spot in the fashion departments fall show this year and they were going to live it up!

Stan flopped the giant value pack envelope on the floor and quickly opened it to see what coupons were inside.

Live it up on a budget of course.

“Oh, what about Steak n’ Shake?” Bev asked, pulling up the small coupon for meals for four dollars or less, but Stan quickly nixed the idea, saying it was too greasy for his stomach. 

They continued to comb through the papers until Richie found one for a sushi restaurant relatively within distance. He held it up and they calculated, letting the math wizard figure out food prices from his phone while calculating tax and tip.

Stan gave a small nod. “Yeah, that’s doable for my pockets, what about you guys?”

Bev let out a loud happy shout, excited that she would be eating some fancy shit for her celebration dinner and Richie grinned as he watched Stan get up to get his coat. Instead of a coat, Richie threw his favorite red Modest Mouse sweatshirt on, offering Bev one of his other band sweatshirts which she took readily.

“Oh!” Bev exclaimed, causing Richie to jump at the suddenness and Stan to pause in his keys-wallet-phone check. “Do you guys mind if I invite a friend? He’s really nice!”

Stan and Richie exchanged looks, Bev’s last friend she had brought to hang out had latched onto Stan like her life depended on it. The girl had some crazy idea in her head that he was the perfect boy, all because he knew how to dress sharply and because he told her that her dress was nice once.

“I swear he’s nothing like Caitlin!” Bev reassured, which didn’t mean much to them, but Richie shrugged. 

“I guess I’m okay with it, but if my man ends up with another stalker trying to jack his perfect Jewish sperm for some whacked white woman future fantasy, I’m putting you in baby jail.” He winced when both Stan and Bev reached out to punch him, each in one shoulder. Bev laughed but Stan looked disgruntled.

“ _Please_ don’t ever talk about my sperm ever again.” Stan huffed, going over the keys-wallet-phone check again. “Especially when we are talking about that fucking awful night.”

That night, they all learned that Stan was not afraid to push a girl when she got too handsy with him. 

“ _Anyway!_ ” Bev exclaimed, pushing them towards the door while she took her phone out of the large hoodie pocket. “He’s not like that. He’s super sweet, in the agriculture program but he’s doubling with history too! Also he is drop dead gorgeous.”

“You got the hots for this guy or something?” Richie asked with a raised eyebrow as they waited for Stan to lock the door, grinning when she rolled her eyes. “Look to get some smash?”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” Bev said with a laugh, which turned into a shriek when Richie started trying to grind on her leg. 

“You two are idiots.” Stan called, already moving down the dorm halls and they quickly scrambled to catch up with him. “You should let your friend know we are leaving now because I don’t intend to wait.”

Bev muttered about Stan having a stick up his ass as she started typing away at her phone, grinning when it dinged immediately. 

“Sweet! Mike is in!”

Stan made a face. “His name is Mike?”

Richie laughed as he watched Bev take a whack at Stan while they waited for the elevator, pulling his phone out of his pocket and grinning when he saw who the new message was from. He quickly slid his finger across the screen to unlock it and almost bust out laughing when he saw the message. 

 

 

__

__

 

Richie grinned, following Stan and Bev into the elevator as his finger sped across the screen to reply, but not before saving that amazing picture to his phone.

 

 

__

__

 

“Fuck.” Richie whispered, the overwhelming feeling of excitement and attraction pressing down on his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. EFK was so much more than Richie had ever hoped he would be, the way they could easily go back and forth was something that Richie never even knew he wanted in a romantic relationship and not he was ruined for anyone else.

“Richie, come on!”

Richie glances up to see his friends waiting for him by the door, Stan with his hands in his pockets looking mildly annoyed and Bev tapping her foot impatiently, and he quickly hustled over to them.

“Okay, Okay. Give me a second!” When he got to them he quickly brought up his phone, which made Bev groan and Stan roll his eyes. “Let me just answer this text and then I  _ promise  _ I’ll be phone free for the rest of dinner.”

“We’ll see.” Stan replied, sarcasm heavy in his voice, but Richie ignored him to type out another message.

Richie paused in typing out his second message, typing and deleting over and over the offer to come get dinner with them. EFK never responded to any of Richie’s invites, either he would go quiet until Richie had something new to say or would change the subject himself. He tried not to feel hurt by it, EFK had said from that start that he wasn’t comfortable meeting up right now, but it was hard. So, after deleting the offer for a fifth time, Richie presses send and slid his phone in his pocket.

 

__

 

“Alright! Let’s head out!”

They took the train over into Brooklyn, finding the sushi place without too much issue and the three of them stood outside for a bit while Richie and Bev took pleasure in some nicotine sticks. Richie stopped mid sentence and squinted when a tall and extremely attractive black man with dreads started waving at them. He was even more surprised when the man started jogging towards them and yelled Bev’s name.

Stan and Richie watched as Bev squealed, tossing her cigarette in the gutter before running over and throwing her arms around the man. As the two walked back over to Stan and Richie, Richie has to reassess his choice on words for the man’s looks. 

He wasn’t extremely attractive, he was fucking gorgeous.

Man, EFK was lucky Richie was in love with him otherwise new guy might have gotten the moves.

Bev laughed at both Stan and Richie’s faces, reaching out to push them both on the shoulder before rolling her eyes. “Yeah yeah! You two laughed when I said he was hot but who look like fools now?”

Ah, so this was Mike.

Richie gave a wave and introduced himself and then all three eyes fell to an oddly silent Stan, his friend’s face a weird expression Richie hadn’t ever seen before. Stan’s cheeks were pink, but he had his lips pursed so tightly that Richie swore if they put coal between them, they’d get a diamond. Richie cleared his throat, trying to break Stan out of his weird silent mood and Stan glanced down at his own feet and muttered a hello.

Bev hummed in displeasure at Stan’s greeting, but started talking to Mike as they all moved into the restaurant. Turned out Mike was a really cool guy, easy to talk to and funny as well. He had Bev and Richie howling with laughter at a story from his Russian history class, while Stan quietly popped edamame out of the pod. It was weird for their friend to be so silent, even around a new person and Richie rolled his eyes when Mike asked Stan a question, to which Stan went weirdly red and muttered his answer quietly

“Don’t mind him, Mike.” Richie snickered as he plucked a spider roll from one of the plates, soaking it in soy sauce. “He’s just upset because he hasn’t had his daily dump.”

Richie piped the sodium bomb in his mouth and chewed, grinning widely when he saw the absolutely murderous look that crossed Stan’s face in that instant. He knew he’d be purple nurpled into oblivion tonight, but it was all worth it to see Stan’s face go from trying to kill Richie with his mind to so embarrassed that even his ears went scarlet.

“Richie…”

Richie gave a shrug and swallowed. “It’s not his fault that he’s picky where he shits.”

Richie could see Bev, out of the corner of his eye, move back away from the table slightly because she knew Stan was likely to attack. Luckily for Richie, Mike just laughed with a small shrug.

“I get that. Some restrooms are just sketchy.”

Stan turned to look at Mike with a deep frown. “You don’t have to agree to make me feel better, pity is worse than being laughed at.”

Richie heard Bev groan, knowing that she was probably going to lose another new friend because of Stan. It was always so hard to watch Stan crush the poor soul of a person, but to everyone’s surprise Mike just smiled and shook his head.

“I’m serious. It took me forever to get used to the the dorm rooms toilet.” Mike glanced around the table before turning back to look at Stan. “Besides I wouldn’t agree with you just because I like you, that’s lame as hell.”

Stan’s lips curled into a pleased smile and Bev and Richie turned to give each other a questioning look as their friend suddenly became talkative.

The night went by quick, the four of them eating sushi until they could burst, Bev insisting that Richie needed to give her a piggyback ridgeback to their dorms while Stan and Mike walked leisurely behind. When they got to their dorm building, he let Bev use her keycard to get inside, glancing over to find Stan lingering a little longer as him and Mike said goodbye.

Richie and Bev waved as Mike turned and started walking towards the other dorm building, but as soon as he was out of ear shot they started to make the most obnoxious kissing sounds at Stan.

“Jesus, Stan. Why don’t you just propose?”

“Better run, buddy! Your man is walking away with your heart!”

Bev ducked in time to miss Stan trying to whack her over the head, but Richie wasn’t so quick and he growled at his friend when Stan’s palm left a stinging bite. Bev laughed, moving to follow Stan back into the building. Richie sighed as he started to follow them when his phone chirped in his pocket.

 

 

__

 

 

Richie smiled down at his phone, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the part of the screen where EFK’s name was displayed. Bev and Stan kept saying that this was crazy, that he couldn’t be in love with someone he barely knew, let alone hadn’t met before. They could all just go suck an egg though, because Richie knew what he was feeling and so what if EFK didn’t want to meet him, he was fine with this even if it was all he got.

His fingers moved quickly, sending the text and sliding it back into his pocket before running to catch up with his friends.

 

 

__

 

 

 

The next two weeks went by quickly, the city shifting into fall as the leaves started to turn and the people living there started to dress warmer. Halloween decorations were stuck up all over the dorms and school building, even the most lack luster professors had some sort of festive something in their class. Richie had been asking EFK if he were going to do anything fun for Halloween and EFK would just respond with ‘nothing interesting’.

Richie didn’t like how that response made him feel. In one way it made him feel like he should invite EFK to the Delta Lambda Phi frat house because of the guy wasn’t doing anything interesting, surely a party would be more fun. On the other hand, he knew the rules that EFK wanted to follow and any kind of trying to get physically near the guy was always met with awkward silence. So, Richie really didn’t know what to do.

He was lamenting over it at the local coffee shop, homework spread across the table even though he wasn’t paying attention to it. He tapped at his phone, the old message he had sent EFK about three hours ago sitting there with the delivered sign under it and he let out a big sigh as he glanced up when he saw movement in the corner of his vision.

There, over by the milk bar, stood a boy that Richie recognized but couldn’t put a name to. The guy’s dark head bobbing, curls bouncing as he hummed to himself quietly while he stirred more cream into his sugar. Even if Richie couldn’t remember his name, he remembered those arms and damn even in relaxed fit jeans the guy had quite the ass.

_ Oh _ . That was the kid who had told him about EFK!

The guy took a test sip of his drink, nodding before turning to pick up his bag and head for the door.

Richie’s brain raced to think of the guy’s name, he had it in his phone somewhere but no name was coming to him and as the guy got closer to the door Richie yelled the only thing he could think of.

“HEY SWEET ASS!”

Everyone in the entire coffee shop turned to look at him, including guy who he could- 

“FRANK! YOUR NAME IS FRANK!”

Frank stared at him like he’d lost his goddamn mind, glancing at the other people who stared openly at them before he quickly moved over to sit down at Richie’s table. His cheeks were an alarming shade of red, but it looked good on him and he made sure everyone had stopped staring before he turned a disgruntled look on Richie.

“What the fuck was that?”

“Sorry!” Richie laughed, not meaning to but the look on Frank’s face was so priceless he couldn’t help it. “Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, but your face is so red right now.”

“You yelled ‘sweet-ass’ at me because you couldn’t remember my name.” Frank replied, his expression deadpanned and Richie winced a little in guilt.

“Ah, so you noticed that?”

“The whole coffeehouse noticed, genius.”

Richie blinked, a little surprised by the amount of sarcasm this little snack had in him. Then again, he had played hardball with Richie when it came to getting EFK’s number so he really shouldn’t have been that shocked. Richie let the sarcasm slide off his back and he gave a small shrug, letting a smile come to his face as Frank sipped at his drink carefully.

“So...what did you want?”

“Huh?” Richie’s brain went into complete static before he understood what Frank was talking about. “Oh, nothing. I just recognized you and hadn’t talked to you in a while. You never really answered my texts.”

Not that Richie had sent that many, but that wasn’t really the point and he watched as Frank glanced off to the side. It was a weirdly nervous look, especially for such a weird topic, unless...oh. God, what if Frank really didn’t want to talk and that was his way of stopping any contact and now Richie had just called him out in broad daylight.

Fuck, Tozier. Good going.

“-I don’t really use it.”

Richie snapped back to attention, Frank’s deep brown eyes looking at him with a small hint of guilt and Richie scrambled to figure out what the guy had been saying before he zoned out. He must have taken too long to answer because Frank’s guilt suddenly morphed into irritation and Richie bit his bottom lip with a wince.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

“Really?” Frank sighed, the curls in his hair bouncing again as he shook his head. “I said I don't text much. I use Discord more often.”

Richie brightened. “Oh! I have Discord! What’s your thing?”

“Uh!” Frank got that nervous look on his face and Richie wondered if maybe the guy felt pressured or something, but then Frank pulled out his phone and started typing. “Here. I turned nearby on so you should be able to find me.”

Richie was quick with his phone, pulling it out  and moving to his friends list.

“Wheezy?” He said with a chuckle. 

Frank went red and he started picking at the cardboard heat seal around his paper cup. “It’s kind of an inside joke? I guess. I thought I had asthma when I was younger, so kids at school would call me that. Now that I’m older my best friend calls me that.”

Richie frowned. “You  _ thought _ you had asthma?”

The guy started to look uncomfortable, shaking his head before giving a small shrug. “It’s a long story.”

“Oh,” Richie nodded and a weird awkward silence settled over them. Frank continued to fiddle with the cardboard sleeve while Richie tapped his bitten down nails against the table. “So!”

Frank glanced up at him, giving him all his attention, but Richie then figured out that he had nothing to actually say. He tried to search for anything, but that’s when he realized that he didn’t know this guy, they were just two people that had crossed paths and that’s probably all they were supposed to be. Jesus, now Richie felt bad for calling out to him and making him sit here awkwardly.

“Um, I’m sorry, I didn’t me-“

“You play the guitar.”

“What?” Richie blinked owlishly at the other. “H-how did you know that?”

Frank furrowed his brow, as if Richie had said something odd and then tilted his head toward the space next to Richie. Richie turned to look down, letting out a weird laugh when he saw his beat up leather guitar case resting by his feet.

“Oh, god.” Richie moved his hand under his glasses so he could rub at his face and pinch the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so accusing. Yes, I play the guitar.”

“Music major.”

Richie found it a bit odd that Frank said it as a statement instead of a question, but he nodded because it was true. Frank gave a small smile and nodded, muttering a soft  _ that’s cool _ before taking a sip of his coffee. Richie smiled, the guy’s face still holding a bit of round softness that Richie had lost the day he turned sixteen. It was cute, especially with the way his nose turned up just the slightest.

He wondered if EFK could be this cute.

“You like music?”

When Frank’s eyes lit up, Richie tried not to grin like an idiot and they got to talking about how both had been in band when they were in school. Richie hadn’t even realized how long they had been there chatting until he felt his phone vibrate and he remembered what he had actually been thinking about before he saw Frank. 

For some reason the sense of guilt welled up in him. He had professed his affection to EFK multiple times, only to be rejected gently, but here he was sitting with a cute boy and having a good time. Was this wrong? Just because he found Frank attractive didn’t mean he was actually guilty of betraying EFK because they weren’t even together.

But his heart beating painfully fast told him otherwise and he quickly flipped his phone over, letting out a shaky breath when he saw the name.

Stan.

“You okay?”

Richie glanced up to see Frank looking at him in worry and he tried to give a small laugh, though it sounded weak to his own ears, and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I’m good. Why?”

“You got like...weirdly pale all of a sudden when your phone went off?” Frank replied, glancing at Richie’s phone but the screen had already gone dark again. “You sure everything is alright?”

Richie nodded again, Frank’s worry was sweet but he didn’t need it. “Yeah, just thought it might be someone else than it was.”

Frank didn’t seem to know what to do with that answer, frowning and looking like he wanted to ask more questions, but thankfully didn’t. Instead he nodded and stood up, holding out his hand to Richie, which he now noticed had a simple silver thumb ring on it. He stared at it for a moment, the silver against the other’s olive complexion weirdly captivating and…

One note fell into his head, as softly as a butterfly flapping its wings, the next came just as easily and he continued to stare at the boy’s hand as the half finished melody he had been stuck on slowly inched a little further along.

He jerked out of his daze when Frank cleared his throat and he stared dumbly at the boy, who was looking more and more concerned the longer Richie didn’t reply.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

He needed to get to the music room. 

Immediately.

He quickly stood up, starling Frank as he started to gather up his stuff, shoving his forgotten homework into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder before grabbing his guitar case.

 “Sorry! Sorry! I-I have to go!” He belatedly realized how this looked to the other and quickly held up his hand as he started to walk backwards to the door. “I know this looks bad! It’s not you! It’s me! I have notes in my head! I need to get them down!”

Frank looked so lost and he felt bad for the guy, Richie was a lot to handle when you weren’t used to him and he gave the guy a helpless shrug. 

“Musician stuff!” He said again, everyone in the coffeehouse watching them and he gave Frank a quick wave as he darted out the door. “I’ll message you!”

Richie booked it to the music building as fast as his long legs would take him, signing in at the desk for one of the school music rooms with a piano. He ran to the room, shutting the soundproof door with a heavy click as he pulled his notebook from his backpack along with a mechanical pencil. He quickly jotted down the few notes that had came into his head and the silver ring on Frank’s thumb, biting his bottom lip as he worked on the melody he already had written and pieced the notes to it.

He played it on the piano.

Went back to writing.

Piano.

Writing.

He hadn’t even noticed he’d been there a full hour until he heard his phone buzz loudly against the piano stand. Richie debates checking, not wanting to lose this streak, but what if…

He grabbed his phone, a large happy grin coming to his face when he saw the new message and he quickly typed out a response.

 

__

 

Richie laughed loudly at the happy otter picture and he took a deep happy breath as he set his notebook aside for now, pulling his legs up on the bench so he could text comfortably.

 

 

__

 

 

Richie paused for a second, something weird and uncomfortable growing in his chest at the thought of EFK finding another guy attractive. They had never really talked about EFK’s sexuality, all Richie knew was that he was grossed out by the idea of Richie liking him. Was this a hint into EFK actually being into guys? Did he really have the hots for his friend Bill, stupid ass name by the way, and just didn’t want to tell Richie?

Richie jerked when his phone buzzed in his hand, glancing down to look at the new message that had come in. He let out a choked laugh, relief flooding through his system at what EFK had sent next.

 

 

__

 

“God, I really am.” Richie whispered, wishing he could see EFK right now and if his lol really meant that he laughed out loud or just gave quiet chuckles instead. He imagined EFK sitting on one of the standard dorm beds, probably in jeans and a sweatshirt or something because it was getting kind of chilly, and hopefully smiling down at his phone as he talked to Richie. 

Richie licked his lips, the idea he’d had at the coffeehouse coming back to him and he ached so badly to ask EFK. Instead he went half way, fingers flying across his screen quickly and pressing send before he could even think about it. He then quickly tossed his phone in his bag so that he wouldn’t agonize over the reply and tried to get back to his music.

 

 

__

 

 

A week passed without EFK saying anything about basketball and Richie was disappointed but not surprised when no unfamiliar face showed up to play or watch them. What he was surprised about was when he saw Frank walk by the courts towards the work out area.

So surprised that when Ben tossed the ball his way he hadn’t even noticed and got smacked in the stomach with it. Richie sat down on the rubber ground with a thud, holding his stomach with a wince as Ben rushed over with some of their other friends to see if he was okay.

Richie waved away their concerns, eyes looking out for a certain brunet in shorter than normal gym shorts. When he found him, he saw Frank looking at him already with a concerned look on his face. Richie stood up, quickly telling Ben that he’d be right back before jogging over to Frank giving a small wave as he came to a stop in front of the other man.

“Hey!”

“Hi.” Frank replied a little coolly, now that he could see that Richie was okay he didn’t look so pleased to see him.

“Uhh...you came to work out?”

Frank gave a nod. “Mmhmm.”

“That how you get so swol?” Richie laughed, the word rolling around in his mouth like a large marble and he glanced at Eddie’s arms. For such a shorty, the guy looked like he could bench Richie himself without any help. “You one of those body builder types? With the reps and buying black market breast milk?”

“What?” Frank looked grossed out and Richie had to laugh. 

“I don’t know, I read it in an article somewhere.”

“Ah. Okay.”

Richie frowned at that lackluster response, Frank almost seeming to brush his attempt at conversation off.

“Are you okay?”

Frank picked at his cuticles with his thumbnail, the sarcasm dripped off his next words was thick. “I’m great.”

Richie glanced back over at his friends, them watching and waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing. He held up a finger to signal he’d be there in a minute before turning back to look at Frank who’s expression was still totally annoyed.

“Are you mad at me? What did I do?”

Frank’s eyes widened, a dramatic look of shock coming over his face and Richie felt the urge to step back from how much irritation was radiating off the small man. 

“Mad?” Frank questioned.

 “Why would I be mad? I love it when people say they are going to message me after running away from me and then…” He raised a hand with a graceful flourish before snapping his fingers abruptly. “Don’t.”

Richie stared at the other in confusion before he realized what Frank meant and his eyes widened, his hands jerking out as if to grab onto Frank but didn’t dare try. Shame and guilt started to well up in his stomach and now he felt like the biggest fucking asshole.

“Oh. Oh, Jesus!” Richie cried, gritting his teeth and cringing a little. “I’m so sorry, dude! I totally forgot!”

Frank’s lips pursed, folding his arms over his chest as he glared down at the ground for a quiet second. Richie could see the guy was thinking something over and he bit his bottom lip when Frank made a noise by sucking on his front teeth before letting out a sigh. All the tension that was in the other’s body left with the exhale and he gave a weak shrug without meeting Richie’s eyes. 

“It’s fine.” Frank muttered, turning to look back over at the fitness bars before turning back to Richie. “This was dumb. I should have known better than to think that I could…”

Richie frowned in confusion when Frank shook his head.

“Never mind.” Frank gave another sigh before he nodded, now looking like a kicked puppy and Richie was alarmed at how panicked he felt at the sight. “I’m going to go, sorry for…getting upset.”

When Frank turned and started towards the sidewalk, Richie moved to grab him but he heard Ben and the other’s call his name. He turned around to tell them to hold on, but when he looked back Frank was already gone.

Richie had tried over the next few days to message Frank, apologizing that he really hadn’t meant to do that and that he had just been caught up in other things that it escaped his mind. Frank would always just send back  _ it’s okay _ and nothing else.

It didn’t help his mood that EFK was being weirdly silent and his friends seemed to have absolutely no idea how to go about this in a normal way. Finally, Richie pulled out his phone and sent a text to EFK, praying this weird ice over would break at least so Richie could get some decent advice.

 

 

__

 

 

If Richie made a pouting face, EFK would never know, and he tried to look past how the other seemed to be in a mood at the moment. EFK could get quiet or testy sometimes and Richie usually just had to give him time until he felt better, but right now EFK was the only one who could help him.

 

 

__

__

 

Irritation for the first time ever at EFK shot through Richie and he had to bite his tongue for a moment not to just send EFK the middle finger emoji. Sometimes EFK just made it so damn hard to talk to him, building up walls at the weirdest times and only coming out from behind them when he saw fit. He hid and he evaded anything that made him uncomfortable and right this second it made Richie want to chuck his phone at the wall.

 

 

__

__

__

 

* * *

 

 

 

Eddie honestly hadn’t expected to even hear from Richie unless it was to talk to EFK. He had expected the other to take that advice and then not follow through in the slightest, which was fine.

Really.

It was  _ fine. _

Honestly, it was probably for the better. This way he could just move on and slowly edge out of being EFK. It was better for everyone involved in this stupid predicament Eddie had gotten himself into and he was ready to just forget it and move on.

Until he noticed a red bubble over his discord app letting him know that he had a new message.

 

__

 

Eddie picked at a patch of dry skin on the back of his hand as he read the message over and over again. He hated it that he actually felt happy that Richie had taken his advice and reached out to ‘Frank’, but this also meant that if he did this there was no clean break like he had imagined. 

He could just stop this now.

Tell Richie no or just never respond.

He didn’t need Richie’s attention or Richie, even if the guy made him smile and actually listened and was honestly attractive in a special way.

Eddie didn’t need it he decided, closing out of the app with an air of finality and walked over to the school library to study for his art history test a little. He was half-way through his readings on Botticelli when he sighed and pulled out his phone again. Eddie opened discord and stared down at the message again, biting his bottom lip until it hurt before he started typing out a response.

 

 

__

 

Eddie absolutely did not try to look good for this coffee thing, if he just happened to go through several different outfits while asking Bill’s opinion it was only because he was being indecisive. As he walked down the street, he glanced at his reflection in the store window, gaining confidence from the round symbol on his chest.

Bill had told him to go with his regular cut jeans so he looks good but not like he’s trying and Eddie had picked out one of his favorite shirts to wear with them. It was an old grey shirt, well loved and worn over the years. It was a bit tight around his arms and cropped pretty close to his sides now, but he felt strong because on it was Captain America’s shield.

Also Bill said it showed off his dorito body. 

He’d borrowed Bill’s leather jacket and he had to admit that he liked the way he looked today, which was something that didn’t always happen often. Eddie could see the odd clown shaped chalk board which had the cafe’s specials written on them down the street and he took a deep steadying breath before making his way over. 

The bell above the door chimed as he moved inside, the decor of the place still as mind-numbingly bright and slightly off as it always was. The girl at the register glanced at him, her name tag reading Betty, before asking how many were in his party.

“Uh, I'm actually meeting someone here.” Eddie replied. “Tall guy, glasses, curly dark hair?”

She stared at him blankly and when Eddie glanced up, he could see the owner, Bob Gray, watching them from the other side of the restaurant. They man was always so weird, who opened a clown filled restaurant anyway? 

Weirdos.

“Uh, you know what, I’ll just look around.”

She didn’t even respond to him, just went back to staring at her phone and Eddie nodded as he moved down the rows of tables and booths. All the way at the back he could see mop of black curly hair over the top of one of the booths and Eddie told himself that it was okay before moving over to greet Richie.

“Hey.” He called softly, sliding into the seat across from Richie, the other man jumping a bit in surprise. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“What? No!” Richie gave an embarrassed laugh, shaking his head as he tried to fix the silverware his arm had knocked askew when he had been scared. “You didn’t. I’m not that spookable.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Alright, sure.”

Richie was wearing a pair of jeans with rips all through them and it looked like he had used different colored permanent markers to color in the whites on his beat up black chucks. The black t-shirt he wore under his red flannel said something with a M in the wording, but Eddie honestly couldn’t be sure. Richie’s fingernails were bitten down to the quick which made Eddie want to wince and his thin wrists were covered in friendship bracelets and leather bands.

He looked like a wreck and Eddie fucking loved it.

Their waitress came by and took their order, Eddie having just a cup of coffee while Richie ordered a coke and waffles.

“You can order food too, ya know.” Richie told him, giving Eddie a small hesitant smile. “I said coffee, but food is under that category too.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll just stick to the coffee.”

Richie nodded, then leaned forward with his elbows resting on the table and Eddie almost thought it was cute how his glasses slipped a little down his nose.

 “Okay. So, I asked you to come here so I could properly apologize.” Richie started, Eddie quietly thanking the waitress when she dropped off his coffee with Richie’s coke. “And I’m going to prove to you that I really do want to be your friend.”

_ What? _

Eddie paused in lifting his cup to his mouth. “What?”

The grin on Richie’s face was blinding and Eddie set his cup down, wondering where exactly this was going because it was not at all what he expected.

“Yeah!” Richie exclaimed, nodding excitedly. “See, I talked to EFK about it and he said I should say sorry.”

_ Correct _

“And that I need to show you someway that I’m being serious. So, I’m going to list all forty eight reasons why I think we’d be great friends.”

_ No. Incorrect! _

Eddie watched in horror and confusion as Richie reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of notebook paper. When he started to open it, Eddie realized that the paper and been written in messy scrawl on  _ both _ sides.

“Um, no. You really don’t have to do tha-“

“Number one!” Richie started loudly, smoothing the paper down on the table so he could read it better. Eddie clamped his mouth shut as a few people turned to look at them, even Bob Gray’s cold dead fish eyes moved to look over at them. “You were a real good guy and helped me find my dream dude even though I was some strange guy who you had just seen naked.”

“Oh my god.” Eddie muttered, covering his face with his hands.

“Two! You like music, which I realize in our school isn’t that hard to find, but! I always appreciate it in a friend. Three! Your eyes are really a cool color. Like you think they are brown, but when you look close they are actually lighter brown.”

“That’s really more just an observation…”

“Four! You aren’t afraid to meet here which shows courage because this cafe is creepy as fuck.”

“Okay!” Eddie yelped, reaching out to rip the paper from Richie’s hands, balling it up and shoving it into his own jeans pocket. “That’s good, I can read the rest on my own. Thanks.”

“You sure?” Richie asked, looking wide eyed and unsure at Eddie and he quickly nodded.

“Yep. Absolutely.”

“Oh, well, alright.” Richie gave a small shrug and Eddie sighed softly when things at their table went quiet again.

Their waitress brought Richie’s waffles and syrup, but before starting to eat Richie gave Eddie a crestfallen look. 

“What?”

“So, does this mean you want me to leave you alone?”

“Oh.” 

Eddie blinked, surprised by the actual disappointment on the other’s face and he squirmed a little in his seat. It would be smart to tell Richie yes, to make sure he stayed away from Eddie because this whole story was getting to be too much and Eddie really didn’t see anyway out from it. It would be the smart thing to do.

“No, I don’t want you to leave me alone.” Eddie said softly, his heart beating loudly in his ears as he focused on his cup of coffee. “You’re a good guy and if you mean it, I’d like to be your friend too.”

When he looked up, Eddie hadn’t been expecting the full megawatt smile directed at him and he could feel his cheeks start to warm at how cute it was that Richie’s eyes crinkled.

“That’s awesome!” Richie exclaimed and then held out his hand to Eddie. “Shake on it!”

Eddie reached out to take Richie’s hand, the longer thinner fingers were warm as they wrapped around Eddie’s and gave a firm shake. 

They stayed and talked while Richie ate his food and even long after. Richie had asked about his shirt which launched Eddie into the long explanation of why Cap had been his favorite because Steve was a sickly kid starting out and so was Eddie. Or at least he thought he had been sickly, which led to an awkward discussion about Eddie’s mom.

“Jesus, she sounds lovely.” Richie muttered, swiping a finger through the leftover syrup on his plate and popping it into his mouth. “I’m surprised you were able to even leave for school.”

Eddie gave a humorless laugh. “Oh, trust me. That was quite a fight, but if I was going to survive I had to stand up sometime.”

Richie was watching him closely which made Eddie squirm a little in his seat before Richie grinned. “Damn, you are a tough dude. I mean, I’m not even talking about those arms. It takes a lot to get out of a relationship like that, my friend Bev did, but it was rough.”

“Bev?”

Richie nodded. “Yeah, it’s Beverly, but I call her Bev. I don’t think you’ve met her?”

Eddie gave a small shrug. 

“Yeah,” Richie gave a quiet laugh. “You’d know it if you met Bev. Totally babe, she is, but she can be a handful.”

“Is that why you two are friends?”

Richie’s grin got wider. “You calling me a handful, Frankie?”

Eddie let a teasing smirk tug at the corner of his mouth. “Absolutely.”

Then he made a face as if he had eaten a lemon and shook his head. “And don’t ever call me Frankie.”

“Frankenstein it is then!” Richie saluted Eddie and then laughed when Eddie let out an indignant yelp, but he couldn’t really be mad. The way Richie laughed was weirdly infectious and Eddie found himself chuckling softly as well.

They talked for a few minutes more before an alarm went off on Richie’s phone. He sighed as he shut it off and stood up quickly, picking up his bag and hefted the strap onto his shoulder before giving Eddie a wave. “My allotted time for one of the music rooms is now so I gotta boogie.”

Eddie smiled, giving a small nod. “That’s fine. I need to work on some homework anyway.”

“Okay, cool.” Richie nodded, seemed to hesitate for a second before turning to face Eddie fully. “We should do this again sometime or just like...hang out. I promise I won’t ghost you again so if there’s anything you feel up to doing just shoot me a DM.”

Eddie wondered if the smile Richie was using was supposed to be charming, in a way it kind of was.

“You too.” Eddie replied, the happy feeling of actually getting along with Richie without being behind a screen outweighing the sick feeling about how messed up this all was. “I have classes mostly in the mornings except on Thursdays, so let me know.”

“I will.” Richie swore when his alarm went off again and he quickly started to make his way towards the door, waving wildly as he yelled goodbye.

Eddie watched him through the glass door until Richie’s form had disappeared and he pursed his lips just knowing that Bill was going to rip him a new one when Eddie told him this later. He jerked a little in surprise when he felt his phone go off in his pocket, wondering if Bill had a sixth sense or something and pulled his phone out.

He couldn’t help the large smile and warm feeling in his stomach when he saw the text message light up on his screen.

 

__

__

__

__

 

The weeks passed by in the blink of an eye and Eddie was pleased that Richie had kept his word, messaging Frank almost as much as EFK which meant Eddie’s phone never stopped buzzing somedays. He hadn’t given Richie a real answer from EFK about the party and he kept flip flopping on which he wanted to do.

If he said no, he'd be safe for another day, but Richie would probably get upset for giving him false hope. If he said yes...then this whole thing would be over, but he might not have Richie; Friend or otherwise.

He went over and over it obsessively, which choice would be the most ethical but also not get him in so much trouble? 

It wasn’t until two days before the party, Eddie was laying in bed on the very edge of falling asleep when he heard his phone buzz softly on his nightstand. He buried his face into his pillow, wondering who the hell would be texting him at two in the morning and decided to ignore it as he turned over so his back was facing it.

When it buzzed again Eddie groaned, half of his mind going to it being his mother because something happened and soon he was quickly sitting up. He let out a yelp when he picked up his phone and nearly blinded himself when it lit up, throwing a middle finger to the left side of the dorm room when he heard Bill sleepily mumble ‘shut the fuck up’ at him.

When his eyes adjusted, he unlocked his phone and sighed in annoyance when he say that it was only a few texts from Richie. He clicked the messages icon and when it opened, Eddie tried very hard to hold onto that annoyance when he saw the message.

 

 

__

 

 

Eddie felt the large smile on his face, reaching up to cover his mouth as he let out a quiet chuckle so he didn’t wake Bill up again. The fact that Richie had remembered a small tiny random fact that Eddie had told him almost a month ago made Eddie feel warm and pleasant all around. 

God, he really liked this guy. He really liked him and wanted to be with him, through all the dumb jokes, sweet smiles, bad flirting and everything. He let his hands and heart move before his brain could catch up with them and he had typed out the message quicker than anything before.

 

 

__

 

“This is the stupidest idea.”

Eddie frowned, taking a second from trying to do his hair so he could glare at Bill who sat down on the toilet watching him. His best friend had already stated numerous times how much he disagreed with this whole idea, the party and continuing to lie about who he was to Richie, to which Eddie would always just remind Bill how much he lies in high school. Dating two girls at once in the same school was never going to end well.

“Well, I’d rather come clean now instead of keep lying.” Eddie replies, going back to fixing his hair. Just because he was probably going to get yelled at didn’t mean he couldn’t look good while it happened.

“He’ll probably never want to talk to you again. I mean, I wouldn’t.”

“Jesus, Bill!” Eddie turned on him quickly, blue and brown eyes met in a glaring stand-off and Eddie wanted to push his friend off his bony butt. “I get it! You never liked this idea to start with, but I’m in it now and I’m going to try and make good. Can you stop being a monumental ass and try being my best friend for a second here? I’m terrified.”

Bill kept his glare up for a few more seconds before letting his shoulders slump with a sigh as he nodded. “Yeah, alright. Sorry.”

Eddie turned back to the mirror, the pit in his stomach only growing bigger and colder as he started thinking about actually saying the truth to Richie’s face. Richie had been ecstatic when Eddie had told him he would go and he felt a little bad to have to crush Richie’s happiness by showing who he really was, but it needed to be done.

Eddie dressed best he could, hoping if he looked good Richie would at least go a little easier on him, with his tightest jeans and shirt. Bill even loaned him the leather jacket again, saying Eddie would need the luck and for the first time since their friendship Eddie really hoped it was lucky. As he walked to the party, he kept his hands shoved inside the jacket’s pockets and he could feel how sweaty his hands were as the slipped against his phone and lanyard.

The party could be heard from down the block and Eddie tried to keep his breathing under control as he got closer, almost hyperventilating when he opened the house’s large old door and was smacked in the face with loud music and yelling. His mom hadn’t been exaggerating when she warned him that college boys were rowdy, Eddie watching as a group of boys used a funnel to chug multiple beers at once. He moved through the mass of bodies, getting from the living room into the kitchen when he stopped short at the sight of Richie leaning up against the kitchen counter with a beer in hand as he talked to some redheaded girl. Eddie felt like a deer caught in the headlights, his mind kept telling him to run for it while his heart wanted to just keep staring at the guy, loving the way Richie’s throat bobbed when he took a gulp of beer.

Eddie took a deep breath and raised his hand in a weak wave, his voice cracking when he called out. “Hey, R-Richie!”

He gulped when both the girl and Richie stopped talking and turned towards him, Richie looking excised for a moment before it faded into disappointment and then was masked with fake cheer. He tipped his beer bottle towards Eddie as Eddie moved over to them.

“Frank, how you doing? I didn’t know you’d be here.” Richie said with an easy smile and Eddie knew that he should do it now. No more lingering and letting it hang, but the words got stuck in his throat and all he could manage was a nod. “Well, that’s cool. This is my friend Bev.”

He motioned towards the pretty girl next to him and they gave each other small waves.

“And Bev this is Frank, he was the one who helped me out with EFK’s number.”

“Ah,” Bev didn’t look partially happy or unhappy with that information, she just looked almost bored with it. “So, do you think him pining after a mysterious rando is romantic or weird?”

“Weird.” Eddie admitted truthfully and at least he could be honest about that.

Bev let out a loud bark of laughter even as Richie glared at both of them before taking another swing of his beer. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh and gossip all you want church ladies. He said he’d come tonight so who’s laughing now?”

“Yeah, okay, Richie.”

Eddie bit his lip, guilt swirling sickenly in his stomach as Richie and Bev started to bicker about EFK standing him up. Richie looked so irritated when Bev kept joking about it happening and soon Eddie loudly announced that he needed to go get a drink of his own. He found the liquor stash and quickly poured himself a large cup full of whiskey and coke, downing it so fast he could barely taste it except for the burn as it went. 

What was he doing? Oh, god. What the fuck was he doing?

He couldn’t do this. Not without another drink in him.

Eddie made himself a second drink, trying to drink it a little slower this time, but he could already feel the effects of his first drink starting to take. 

He let himself wander through the crowd, the amount of people and the noise making Eddie’s anxiety start to spike as he tried to tell himself that he needed to do this. Near the end of his second drink, he started to make his way back towards Richie and Bev, stopping short before they saw him when they seemed to be in a deep discussion. 

“I just don’t get it, Richie.” Bev said, voice soft but Eddie could hear the irritation laced through the words. “You have never met the guy so heaping all your expectations on someone like that is just...not healthy.”

Richie snorted. “People meet online and fall in love all the time. Dating through social media isn’t new.”

“Yeah?” Bev replied, voice no longer soft as she watched Richie chug the last of his beer and reach over to grab a new one. “Only difference here is you guys aren’t dating. It almost seems like he isn’t even interested and is just too nice to shut you down.”

“Shut up, Bev.” The acid in Richie’s voice made Eddie wince.

He shouldn’t be listening to this, he really shouldn’t, but he stayed right where he was and continued to eavesdrop.

“What about that Frank guy?” Bev continued as if she hadn’t heard Richie. “He’s really cute and I think he’s into you and he’s like actually here?”

“Can you drop it already?” Richie’s voice boomed suddenly, causing a few people to look his way but he didn’t seem to notice as he glared at Bev. “I can’t pick who I like and you certainly don’t get to, so why don’t you stop trying to meddle in things that have nothing to do with you.”

Eddie cringed and watched as Bev pushed away from the wall she was leaning against with a huff.

“Fuck you, Richie.” She growled. “See if I care when this whole thing leads to nothing and you’re just another heartbroken mess again.”

Eddie ran after that, making sure Bev didn’t notice he had been around when she walked off. He made sure to keep his distance from Richie and his friend, but was able to see Richie drink more and more as the hours passed, an irritated frown between his brows.

Eddie felt his pocket buzz after his third drink and even in his hazy mind he knew it was from Richie. Richie texting EFK wondering where the hell he was and why he was being stood up. God, it made Eddie want to cry and he suddenly had to wipe at his eyes as his alcohol soaked brain told him this was the saddest thing in the world. He needed to do it. He needed to go tell Richie now before this got ugly and he pushed his way through the crowd, thankful when he found Richie upstairs in one of the hallways of the house.

Richie was slumped against the wall, long fingers angrily picking at the label on what must have been his seventh beer. Eddie tried to move quietly over to him, but he wasn’t as quiet as he thought he was because Richie’s head shot up when a floorboard creaked under Eddie’s weight and Eddie startled. He tripped a little and fell against the wall, looking at Richie wide-eyed because holy crap he had almost died.

“I almost died.”

Richie frowned in confusion before he shook his head and turned back to picking at his label. Eddie bit his lip and then shuffled his way over and lowered himself down next to Richie noticing the way the other stiffened a little at his touch.

“Not to be rude,” Richie started softly. “But I’m really not in the mood to talk to you right now.”

“Jesus.” Eddie hissed, the alcohol making the hurt at Richie’s words burn brighter than it normally would have. “Sorry. I was trying to talk to a friend.”

He pushed against the wall so he could slide upward, wishing this exit looked better than it probably did and he was almost on his feet when Richie spoke again.

“I didn’t mean it like that. Shit!” Richie threw the empty beer bottle across the hall and Eddie distantly was surprised it didn’t break. “I just- I’m so mad! He said he would come and now I’m sitting here like an idiot because I really thought…”

Something in Eddie started to panic when Richie reached up with his hand to wipe at his eyes under his glasses.

“He’s a fucking idiot.”

Eddie watched as Richie’s body went still, then his head tilted up so he could look at Eddie through those wild curls. Eddie had been expecting…he wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but a glare certainly hadn’t been it and he stood up a little straighter when Richie pushed himself up as well, stumbling a little. Richie wagged a finger at him as he took a step closer towards Eddie.

“You take that back.” He slurred.

“Why?” Eddie shot back, unsure as to why he was bad mouthing himself. He did have a point for it though right? EFK was being a dick wad. “He is. He’s too scared to come forward and meet you.”

Eddie hadn’t been expecting Richie to push him and he winced when his back collided with the wall sharply. He took a deep breath when he found himself caged in by Richie’s body, the threat that Richie was taller obvious but they both knew Eddie was stronger. 

“Take it back.” Richie growled, the hand near Eddie’s head becoming a fist and he pounded it on the wall loudly. Eddie could smell the alcohol on Richie’s breath and it made him that much angrier. “That’s the guy I love and if you don’t take it back I’ll-“

“You’ll what?” Eddie hissed, words coming to his mouth far faster than his drunken brain could really register. “Beat me up? Even if you could, what would it change? He wouldn’t care.”

“You fucking bast-“

“Because you don’t really love him!” Eddie was shouting now and he really didn’t mean to, but all the emotions were mixing together and he needed to get them out. “All you know about him is that he can draw you in a way you like! Yeah those are real feelings of love you shallow dick!”

Eddie was panting hard and he flinched away when he felt Richie’s fingers brush gentle across one of his cheeks, the other man’s expression shocked.

“Are you crying?”

“Wha?” 

Eddie quickly moved to touch his face, but was interrupted when Richie moved forward to press his lips against Eddie’s in a sloppy drunken kiss. Eddie’s mind spun, he was really confused, but Richie was warm against him and it felt like a balm against how raw he was feeling so he kissed back with all he could, groaning lightly when Richie bit at his bottom lip and moved to his jaw.

He took in a shuddering breath when he felt Richie kiss at his neck and then press his lips against Eddie’s ear oh so softly.

“Please don’t cry.” Richie whispered, his voice completely wrecked. “I-I can’t watch you cry.”

Eddie closed his eyes, sighing softly when Richie’s warm weight pressed him fully against the wall. He whined softly when he felt something hard against his stomach, squirming against Richie when he felt the other slide his leg in between Eddie’s. Richie nuzzled his neck again, giving a soft bite to it that made Eddie groan loudly.

“Tell me no,” Richie begged even as he started to grind his hips against Eddie’s, the pressure making a familiar ache start to build in Eddie’s gut. “Tell me no and I’ll quit…”

Eddie gasped when Richie presses down a little harder.

 

_ Just say no, Eddie! _

 

_ Say no! _

 

“I don’t want you to quit.” He gasped, pushing his hips up against Richie and he thought he was going to explode when he heard the broken moan come from Richie’s mouth near his ear. The hand that Richie had previously had on the wall moved into Eddie’s hair tugging it back so Eddie had to tilt his head back and he gasped when he felt Richie bite his neck. “Ah! Fuck me, Richie! Jesus!”

He could feel the smothered moan Richie let out at his words against his neck, their hips moving faster against one another as the pressure started to become too much. When he felt Richie jerk against him, body spasming and a low groan seeming to be ripped out of him, that sparked something in Eddie and even though Richie had stopped moving, Eddie came right there.

He gasped as clawed at Richie’s clothed back as he rode the pleasure out, his head feeling unbelievably light and muffled as he started to come down. He felt Richie start to pull away and on instinct grabbed a handful of the other’s t-shirt.

“Please don’t leave…”

He could barely keep his eyes open, but he watched as Richie looked him over with heavy lids and nodded. “Come back to my dorm.”

Eddie didn’t even think about it, just nodded at let himself be led towards what was hopefully a bed and Richie holding him in it.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [tumblr](https://xandertheundead.tumblr.com/)!


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